


Halloween In Spirit

by LydiaLovestruck



Series: Modern World [1]
Category: Trixie Belden Mysteries - Julie Campbell Tatham & Kathryn Kenny
Genre: Gen, General spookiness and anvilicious "foreshadowing"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-07
Updated: 2012-02-07
Packaged: 2017-10-30 18:01:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/334550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LydiaLovestruck/pseuds/LydiaLovestruck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Helen and Peter Belden enjoy the last Halloween before everything starts falling apart. It's 1984 and Crabapple Farm is hosting a small get-together while Peter takes Brian out for his first trick-or-treat excursion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Halloween In Spirit

Wednesday, October 31, 1984

 

"Trick or treat! Trick or treat, Mommy! Trick or treat!"

"Hush, Brian," Helen Belden, also known as Mommy, sighed. "I'm trying to get your brother and sister ready. Be quiet a moment, will you?"

Brian, his huge brown eyes staring up at her, nodded. "All right, Mommy. I'll be quiet."

Absent-mindedly, Helen smiled at her youngest child as she continued her diapering. "That's a good boy, Brian. Now see if you can get Mart to behave, too, okay?"

Brian heaved a huge sigh, fit more for a man of six feet than a little boy who just celebrated his fourth birthday. He stood in the doorway of his brother and sister's bedroom and felt his lower lip jut out into a pout. He knew pouting wasn't something a Big Boy did, so he sucked in his lower lip in a hurry. He was four years old. He was the oldest. He had a responsibility to help his brother and sister, even if they were noisy and smelly and cried a lot.

Brian wore his favorite Superman Underoos, and not much else. He wanted his mother to help him into his Scooby Doo costume so he would be all set for trick or treating that night with his dad. He could see the sun moving past the huge trees in the back yard, so he knew it was getting late. He did not want to miss a single moment of his first Big Boy Halloween. His father had promised he would get to go trick or treating, and actually knock on the doors all by himself. He couldn't wait for that!

Helen finished adjusting her daughter's diaper and then quickly felt her second son's to see if it were dry. "Mart? You remember to tell Mommy if you need to go potty, okay?" She had been trying desperately to toilet train him, and while she worried she was rushing him, having two children in diapers was not fun.

Mart nodded seriously and grinned at her. "I go trick treat, too! I go, too!"

Helen smiled and patted his cheek. "Next year you can go. This year you get to stay at the party with Mommy. Won't that be fun, too?"

"I wanna go with B'ian!" Mart protested.

"Well," Helen wavered, turning to her oldest, but Brian had other plans.

"Mommy!" he wailed. "You said I could go by myself! He's not a big boy. I am. You said! Daddy said! Said if I stopped scratching I could go." Both Brian and his brother had recovered from the chicken pox the weekend before. Trixie had been spared the ordeal by staying with the Maypennys up the mountain.

"Shhh," she tried to soothe his rumpled feelings. "You're right. I did say that. But maybe you could take an extra bag for your brother? Then when you come back, he won't feel so left out. He looks up to you, Brian. What do you say?"

Brian thought a long moment. If he had two bags, then he would get more candy. Mart wouldn’t have to know if Brian took all the Snickers bars. Would he? Mart was just a baby. What would he know about candy? Brian just adored Snickers bars, especially frozen then smashed up into his ice cream. He nodded. "Deal."

Helen smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Brian. You're a sensible young man!" She set her daughter, Trixie, into her playpen, shook a small stuffed black and white cow at her, and left the toddler playing happily. She allowed Mart to follow her and perfect his unsteady stride as she in turn followed Brian to his room.

Within fifteen minutes, Helen had Brian in his light cotton brown costume and was in the bathroom beginning to apply brown makeup to his face when she heard a 'Honey? I'm home! Where are you?' from downstairs. It was her husband, Peter, calling her, finally home from his job at the bank. 

Helen called out, inviting him upstairs to check out their son's progress. "Brian's been squirming to go since he woke up this morning. I hope you're ready to do some serious walking tonight!" The Beldens lived on a winding country road and their neighbors lived hundreds of yards away from each other. Most of the fun that night for Brian and his father would be walking along the moonlit Glen Road, seeing spooks and discussing which house was giving the best candy and might merit a second stop. At least, that was Peter's intention for the special father/son event.

Peter hurried up the stairs, a grin on his handsome face. He quickly checked on his daughter, still gurgling happily with her stuffed cow, then joined his wife in the hall bathroom, where she was almost done applying makeup to the small boy. He kissed Helen soundly on the lips, then grinned at his oldest son, who resembled Peter more and more every day. "I'll say, Brian. If I didn't know better, I'd expect you to bark at me!"

"Rank roo, raddy!" Brian said, imitating the cartoon character.

Peter and Helen laughed, then he picked up his youngest son and swung him onto his shoulders. "What do you say, Mart? You all set for Halloween?"

Mart nodded his head, his tangled blond curls flying every which way. "Daddy home!" Mart shouted, hugging his father's neck.

"Wow, he's really growing fast," Peter commented. "Is he talking earlier than Brian did? Or is it my imagination?"

Helen thought about it for a moment while she applied blacking to Brian's nose. "Maybe he is, but that's probably due to Brian's influence. Remember though, Brian walked earlier."

"I read a book all by myself, Daddy!" Brian announced.

"You did!" Peter exclaimed. "That's wonderful! Which one was it?"

Brian thought a moment, then said, "Brown Bear*! I read Brown Bear all by myself!"

Helen caught Peter's questioning glance. "Yup," she said. "He really did. I was there the whole time. I thought he had just memorized it, but then he started reading it backwards."

Fascinated, Peter stared at his oldest child. "Why'd you do that, Brian?"

Brian shrugged. Since his mother was done with the makeup, he climbed upon the small stool so he could see himself in the mirror over the sink. "I wanted to see it go back. Like when the movies go back on TV."

"When you rewind the VCR," Helen explained, cleaning the makeup off her hands and the countertop. "I think we're raising a genius!"

Peter felt a tug on his pant leg and he looked down, a bit alarmed to see his daughter, crouched on the floor, smiling up at him. "Now, how'd you get out of your playpen, young lady?" he asked.

"Oh, dear," Helen sighed with a smile. "That's the fourth time this week. Looks like we're also raising an escape artist."

**

The Beldens lived on a few acres of arable land called Crabapple Farm. The house and the land had been in the Belden family for generations. Peter himself had grown up there; his room as a boy was now his wife's studio. She painted whenever she had the chance, although it had become clear those days were numbered. The plan was for Mart to move into the studio when he was toilet trained, to give him his own room, like his brother, and then move the studio to the attic. Trixie would simply sleep in the nursery, changing the décor as she got older. As long as they had no more children, this generation of Belden kids would grow up like Peter and his two brothers did, with privacy and their own 'space'.

For this Halloween, the first real trick-or-treat Halloween, Brian set off with his father down the long, leaf-swept drive toward Glen Road. His father wore jeans and a flannel shirt; Brian wore his Scooby Doo costume, carried two large pillow cases and huge hopes to fill them both.

Helen watched them go, snapping a last photograph of father and son side by side as they walked away. She set her camera carefully on the terrace, resolving to get an 'After Halloween' picture for the burgeoning family albums. She saw Trixie and Mart playing happily on the grass nearby. The family's oversized pumpkins with scary and cheerful faces lined the front porch; small ghost pumpkins dotted the terrace. A homemade ghost hung from a large crabapple tree growing strong beside the farmhouse, tossing and twisting in the October wind.

Helen shivered. Halloween had always made her uneasy. Something about ghosts and spirits walking the earth disturbed her, though she hardly believed in such things. As Peter and Brian turned onto the main road and moved out of sight, the empty driveway, the wind and the leaves increased her tension. This was her first Halloween alone at the farm. Her first alone in such a rural setting. Maybe that's all it was, she told herself. Isolation. She hoped her guests showed up soon.

The Beldens had invited some of their married friends with young children to drop by for a party. The children would play together while the adults would enjoy a few drinks and light conversation on the terrace. Helen had made a pie and everyone was asked to bring something to contribute as well.

She was about to join Mart and Trixie in the grass when she heard a 'Hallooo!' from the woods. Helen turned, happily expectant, in the direction from which she knew the call had come. She waved her hand high above her head, thrilled at the sight of her first guests, the Maypennys, who lived deep in the woods in a log cabin. They visited each other about twice a month, taking turns making the long trek through the wooded paths. This was the Maypennys' turn to make the journey, their young daughter in tow.

Katrina Maypenny emerged first from the trees. Her slight frame and exuberant manner made Helen smile. Katrina had dressed all in black and orange and had painted cat whiskers on her cheeks. "Helen!" she shouted. "Happy Halloween!"

A moment later, Katrina's husband, Micah, emerged. Strapped to his back in a comfortable makeshift papoose was their two and a half year old daughter, Anneka, still too young to make the trip on foot. Almost twice his wife's age, Micah nevertheless seemed just as excited about the holiday as the children.

Helen didn't wait for the couple to cross the yard before hurrying forward to help Katrina carry her oversized picnic basket. "Goodness, Kat!" Helen exclaimed. "You weren't supposed to bring your entire cupboard!"

Katrina laughed. "It's not all food, I promise! I made oatmeal cookies for Micah, the peanut butter ones your boys adore, and let's see… I had to make my special sugar-free muffins for me and Annie. A bottle of ketchup. I brought Tab to drink, and Annie's juice. My meds are in there, Annie's special blanket. The usual stuff."

"Ketchup?" Helen asked. Her blue eyes twinkled as she suggested, "Please explain."

"I can't." Katrina shrugged. "Anne insisted for some reason. I think she likes the color." 

Clearly dubious, Helen stepped behind Micah and cooed at the toddler strapped to her father's back, dismissing the subject of the tomato-based condiment. "Happy Halloween, Annie!" she said, brushing the back of her hand against the child's cheek. Anne clutched a handful of wild flowers in her chubby hand.

"Hap' Halloween," Annie managed. "For you." She pushed the bouquet at Helen.

Helen made a big deal out of accepting the gift, delighting Anne and her parents in the process. Moments later, however, Anne grew bored. She waved her arms impatiently. "Daddy! Down now! Want go down!"

"Oh, may I?" Helen asked. She reached in and lifted Anne out of the papoose, held her high in the air and then set her down with a whoosh! "My, you're getting big, aren't you!"

Micah let the empty papoose slide off his arms and smiled down at his little girl. "Yes, she is. And prettier every day, too. Just like her mother."

Katrina blushed and pushed a strand of her long, dark, walnut-colored hair out of her eyes. "Come on, Annie. Let's go say hi to Trixie and Mart, okay?" She held out her hand and her daughter took it. Together they walked across the lawn to the young Beldens, who had begun to squabble over ownership of a small rock.

Helen watched them go and said quietly to Micah, "How is she doing?"

Micah didn't need to ask to what Helen referred. "She's perfectly fine, same as always. Katrina's a bit concerned that she'll succumb to peer pressure when she gets older and get into too much sugar, but I think Anneka's a sensible girl. Like her mother. There's no sign of any problems. She'll be just fine." He glanced at her, then added, "Katrina took her in to see the doctor last week. So far, she only shows one of the warning signs of juvenile-onset diabetes. We're optimistic."

Helen nodded, relieved. "And Kat? She's still on the straight and narrow?" Her bright blue eyes twinkled.

Micah smiled. "Of course not. Just last week that woman was climbing onto the roof from the second story window."

"Why on earth would she do that?" Helen inquired.

He shrugged. "She said she wondered about the possibility of making a roof garden. I convinced her it was impractical. Next spring, I'm going to clear a quarter acre or so for some flower beds. That should keep her happy for a few years."

Helen laughed. "A roof garden? But you can't get to your roof except by ladder!"

Micah shook his head. "That's what I told her. But my wife. She gets these ideas into her head and sometimes, the best thing is to just let her figure out on her own why they won't quite work out."

**

In the next half hour or so, an aging Oldsmobile pulled up the drive to the farmhouse and stopped. While the engine continued to cough and shake the car, a man and a woman got out, smiling and waving at Helen and the Maypennys. Within moments, the Lynch family had joined the small party.

Elayne and Edward allowed their only child, Diana, to sit in the dirt with Trixie and play with the grass and the bugs, while Anne played more physical games with Mart. Those two chased each other across the grass, buzzing like bees and flapping their arms like the flocks of geese overhead did every autumn and every spring. They buzzed and 'flew' for several feet before tumbling to the ground in shrieking laughter.

Helen laughed and joked with her friends, eating the delicious pot luck, shivering with delight as Katrina began to spin tales of old Indian legends about ghost trails and phantom ships. Mart and Anneka listened as best they could, but soon the glimmers of lightening bugs caught their attention and they darted across the yard, hoping to catch one in their hands. Trixie and Diana wanted to go, too, but their respective mothers kept them on the terrace.

The moon slowly rose as the sun finally set. A bob-white called from the woods; a moment later, another one replied. Crickets chirped slowly in the bushes. The children's laughter echoed across the darkening yard. The only lights came from the fireflies, the pumpkins, the bulging moon and the tiny string of lights Helen had hung above the terrace. The adults fell into a companionable silence.

"Halloo! Mrs. Belden! Mind if we visit for a spell?"

Helen turned, happy to see her closest neighbors strolling down the path from their summerhouse. "Nell! James! Come join us, won't you?"

The Fraynes, an older, child-free couple, lived at Ten Acres, a gracious home to the East of the farm. Well into their fifties, they took their time crossing the yard. Mr. Frayne carried a flashlight for his wife and trained the yellow beam on the ground in front of her. "Careful now, dearheart," he urged. "Don’t trip on anything."

"Old fool," Nell grinned. "I never tripped on the open ground in my life and in a month of Sundays I never will. Why, you just think everything's a snake since you saw that one the other day."

Micah leaned forward, hearing that. "What did you say? You saw a snake?"

Nell waved away the importance of the event, but James replied, "I sure did. In the summerhouse, if you can believe it! Good thing I checked before letting Nell in there. It was a copperhead."

"A tiny copperhead," Nell clucked. "It was a cute little thing, only about so long." She measured a foot in the air.

"You shoot it?" Micah asked, concern evident in his manner and expression.

"Naw," James replied. "I whacked it with a plain, old, garden hoe." He gestured a cutting motion. "Just a single whack and I chopped it in two."

"My goodness!" Helen murmured, her hand to her heart. She stared out at Mart and Anne, still running around the grass, laughing and tumbling and grass-staining their playsuits.

Elayne leaned forward and patted Helen's shoulder. "I'm sure they're just fine," she said. "Besides. We're right here and all of us know what to do."

But Helen wasn't quite comforted. "Well, I'm not sure. I mean, Peter covered all that snakebite stuff with me the first time he brought me here to meet his family. But I let the kids play outside a lot. I'm not sure I supervise them as well as I should."

"Nonsense!" Edward boomed. "Kids are smarter than we think. And it's just a short ride to the hospital. They know what to do for copperheads."

Helen remained unconvinced. Katrina spoke up then, perhaps sensing Helen's distress, and launched into an old Indian legend concerning copperheads. Nell and James took seats around the small table and listened as the young college archeology professor spun a rather risqué and comical tale before launching yet another spooky story.

Around eight o'clock, Peter finally reappeared, two heavy sacks of candy in one hand, the other balancing a sleeping little boy on his shoulder. "We got all the way to Albany Post when he asked me to carry him. He fell asleep by the time I reached Mrs. Vanderpoel's on the way back. I'm taking him up to bed now," Peter whispered. "I'll be right back down. Save me a soda, will you, Helen? I've built up a powerful thirst."

Helen nodded as Peter slid open the glass door, dropped the sacks of candy on an easy chair and disappeared into the dark farmhouse. "Brian's first trick-or-treat," she confided in the others.

Nell and James smiled at each other. Katrina and Micah held hands and Ed and Elayne nodded knowingly. "Is Mart going next year?" Elayne asked.

"I'm not sure Peter will be able to carry both of them at the same time," Helen grinned, and the adults laughed together.

As the evening wore on, Helen took Trixie and Mart upstairs to bed while Diana and Anne curled up on either end of the Beldens' comfortable couch. Eventually, the Fraynes walked back to their home, promising to call again soon. The Maypennys picked up Anne without waking her and headed into the woods. Katrina made arrangements with Helen to divvy up preparations for the annual Crabapple Farm Thanksgiving Drop-In. The Lynchs packed up their daughter as well, and returned to their small apartment in the older section of town. Before they left, however, Ed inquired into the business plan he had presented to the bank's loan officers. 

"Any word yet, Peter?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, Ed," Peter shook his head. "I don't think it's going to go through. Management's skittish about financing technology companies. They think home computers are a fad that only geeks or rich people will care about. Unfortunately, I don't have any influence in their decision."

"I know, Peter, I know," Ed said. "You helped me out a lot already. I won't forget this. By the way," he added, opening the driver's side door of his Oldsmobile, "I got a tip on some stocks. You sure you don't want to invest some with me?"

Elayne and Helen hugged good-bye, then Elayne slid onto the patched bench seat.

Peter sighed, then grinned as Helen moved to stand beside him. "Give me the information tomorrow and I'll check it over. If it's better than the last tip, I might take you up on it."

"It can't fail, Peter! Can't fail!" Ed laughed. He got into his car and drove away. Soon the stench of burning oil had dissipated in the wind.

"Well, sweetie," Helen sighed, slipping her arms around her husband's waist. "Another Halloween come and gone."

Peter put an arm around his wife's shoulders and stared up at the night sky. He smiled slowly. "Gosh. I remember Halloweens with my brothers. Andy and Hal and I would get in our costumes and just run from house to house. In those days, of course, you could go by yourself. You didn't have to worry about candy apples and going to strangers' houses. Course," he added, "I knew everyone on the street. There were no strangers here."

He turned and stared out toward Ten Acres. "The Fraynes used to have some killer costume parties. I remember one Halloween in particular. Elayne was all over Ed but he wasn't having anything to do with her. She cried on Andy's shoulder all night long." Peter laughed at the memory.

"It was a boy-girl party?" Helen asked casually. Peter nodded, still lost in thought. "And whom did you bring?" When he didn't immediately answer, she turned to face him, scolding him in mock indignation. "Peter! Who was she?"

He laughed and pulled her into his arms. He pressed a kiss into her wavy blonde hair and was about to reply when they heard a loud crash! from the farmhouse and then an anguished cry. That cry was quickly taken up by two more voices and they both shouted:

"MOM! MOMMY!!"

Helen sighed and rested her forehead against Peter's shoulder. He chuckled softly. By mutual unspoken agreement, they did not rush inside, but tried to keep the magic of the night with them a moment longer.

"MOM! MOM-MY! I NEED YOU!"

"WANT MY MOM!"

"WELL I WANT MY MOM! M-O-O-O-O-M-M-M-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y!"

"That's an awful lot of 'moms' for only three kids," Peter grinned. "You sure you can handle it?"

"And Trixie hasn't even started to talk yet, but I hear her wailing away at the top of her lungs!" Helen began to laugh. "Moms. I guess that's what I am, all right." She sighed. "And I guess I'd better go see what disaster they've managed to cook up for me tonight."

She turned to go into the house, but Peter stopped her. He pulled her into a long, thorough kiss, then looked at her with deep satisfaction before letting her go.

"What's that for?" Helen asked him, a bit dazed.

Peter grinned and shrugged. "It's Halloween and I love you. Mostly, though, it's because I love you."

Still smiling at him, Helen began to walk backwards to the farmhouse. "I love you, too." She turned and deliberately sashayed, confident she had his complete attention.

She made it to the front steps when he stopped her again. "Hey, Helen!"

She turned, slightly exasperated at his continued interruptions. "What?"

He grinned mischievously. "Trick or treat?"

She stared at him, then laughed, low and throaty. "Oh, Peter. You must ask me again later. Right now I've got some ghouls and goblins to check up on."

He let her go with a wave. In a matter of minutes, the wailing and screaming had stopped. He heard Helen's soft voice singing Mart and Trixie to sleep. He wondered what the crash was from, but decided it wasn't too serious, or Helen would have told him by then.

A strong, cold wind blew up the driveway, brown and orange leaves dancing in its wake, skittering across the asphalt driveway. An owl hooted nearby and he thought he could hear the distant howl of the Hartman's Irish Setter. High above, a white cloud sailed to cover the moon and darkness closed in around him. For a long moment, a seeming eternity, Peter swore that he felt his parents near him. He could almost hear them, admonishing him and his brothers to 'stay together and remember to say thank you'.

The wind tossed the leaves into a small tornado, and he could hear his brothers laughing and taunting each other as they ran from house to house, small sacks of candy swinging from their tight-fisted grips.

He missed his boyhood days. Being alone in the front yard of his childhood home, nothing but darkness and whispering sounds around him, he felt almost like he could simply take a step and move back in time, be that boy again. Just take a step. One, small step. Just one. He could do it. The air about him seemed electric. Compelling. Urgent. 

No, he decided. Remembering the past was fun, but reliving it was not for him. Not now. Not when he had three incredibly precious children depending on him to provide them with as safe and as wonderful and as magical a childhood as his parents had done for him. Not when he had a wife he loved even more than those children.

Not now that he'd discovered what Life was all about.

The wind changed and the leaves raced away from him, toward the garage where they slapped against the bricks and swirled up the wall.

Peter shivered, realizing how much the temperature had dropped. He glanced once down the driveway, then hurried up the steps and into the farmhouse. As the front door shut behind him, he relaxed in the sudden warmth and comfort of his own home. He once more heard his wife singing lullabies. Without another thought, he climbed the stairs to join her.

(end)

**Author's Note:**

> ** Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? is a popular children's book, perfect for teaching colors and basic animal shapes to children. It is one of a class of books that encourage children to predict the next sentences or events. For more information or to order, I'm sure Amazon.com or your local bookstore has plenty in stock. Oh, yes. It's by Eric Carle - a really good children's artist and a really nice guy.
> 
> ** Story based on a writing challenge from a now-defunct website. Text is almost exactly as originally posted.


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